Councillor who spent charity cash on ballgowns is suspended

A former mayor of Brent has been suspended from the council for six months after she used £900 in cash donations to buy two ball gowns.

Bertha Joseph, who today quit the London fire authority after the ruling, was found by Brent standards committee to have failed to register two donations - of £400 and £500 - within a 28-day deadline and of having brought her office into disrepute.

But Ms Joseph, who was Brent's first Afro-Caribbean mayor, said today she was the victim of a political vendetta after leaving Labour for the Tories. Her lawyers are considering an appeal.

She said of forgetting to register the gifts in time: "It was an honest mistake. I attended hundreds of functions and it slipped my mind.

"I'm very disappointed. I have been a councillor for nearly 24 years and have served as mayor for two terms. I have been a woman of impeccable character and dignity on the council."

A council investigation found that Ms Joseph encouraged businesses - a butcher and a car dealer - to sponsor the dresses she wore to two mayoral charity balls. She had been raising funds for children's charities the Down's Syndrome Association and Shooting Stars.

Ms Joseph has also been ordered to pay £900 to the mayor's fund. The council said Ms Joseph "used her position as Mayor to gain an advantage for herself by obtaining the cash which she used to buy items of personal benefit to her".